Businessmen Who Created Fashion Cafe Are Hit With Fraud Charges

By SUSAN SAULNY

Published: December 12, 2000

The creators of the Fashion Cafe, an international restaurant chain featuring the world of models and couture, have been indicted on federal charges of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering, the United States attorney's office announced yesterday.

One man, Tommaso Buti, 33, was arrested in Milan on Thursday, while his partner and brother, Francesco Buti, 39, remained a fugitive, according to federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

The 51-count indictment, unsealed on Friday, accuses the men of using investors' money for personal expenses, and of falsely claiming that they had invested millions of dollars of their own money in the restaurant.

The Fashion Cafe had a star-studded opening in Rockefeller Center in 1995. It sought to capitalize on the craze for theme restaurants.

But many of these restaurants had financial trouble within years of opening. While the former Wall Street favorites Planet Hollywood and the Hard Rock Cafe have endured, even they, the trailblazers for such restaurants, had hard times in the late 90's.

The indictment of the Butis alleges that the brothers misrepresented the Fashion Cafe's financial condition to investors to obtain additional capital and loan contributions.

The Butis, who live in Florence, Italy, were also charged with defrauding investors connected with Food Evolution, a health food venture; the Benetton Sports Cafe, a theme restaurant focused on racing and connected to the Benetton clothing company; and an office building at 158 Madison Avenue.

Repeated calls to lawyers representing the defendants and the Fashion Cafe were unanswered yesterday.

Tommaso and Francesco Buti are each charged with 35 counts of wire fraud, 14 counts of stolen property transportation, 1 count of money laundering and 1 count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to transport stolen property in interstate and foreign commerce. If convicted, they could face fines and prison terms of 5 to 20 years on each count.

The indictment did not name any of the investors involved, or state the exact amount of money lost by investors as a result of the Butis' schemes, but the document said the Butis made multiple transactions in excess of $10,000, which ultimately transferred more than $10.1 million into accounts in their names or into companies they controlled.

The indictments were not the first trouble for the restaurant chain. In 1998, tax agents issued warrants against the New York cafe for failing to pay taxes for months, forcing the restaurant to cough up immediate payments or face seizure.

The State Labor Department had also filed liens against the cafe for failing to pay premiums on unemployment insurance for its help. Legal action was also taken to collect back rent and utility fees owed the cafe's landlord, Rockefeller Center.

Tommaso Buti made news about that time for renting a $25,000-a-month former Olympic Towers apartment of the Gucci family on a 10-year lease. He also threw himself a model-studded birthday party at the trendy nightspot Nell's at a cost of more than $20,000, friends told The New York Times in February 1998.

At least one supermodel ''partner,'' Christy Turlington, left the Fashion Cafe enterprise in 1998.

Other models -- Naomi Campbell, Elle MacPherson and Claudia Schiffer -- helped market the restaurant, but were not official partners or owners. The three were promised shares of profits for each appearance at openings of the New York and London cafes, and of franchised cafes in South Africa, Mexico City and Barcelona, Spain, court records indicate.